What else can you do ... throw the ball

Minette thinks she is a dog.
She plays with a little ball with a bell inside. Then she brings it to me and drops it at my feet, so I will throw it for her.
I just threw it. She made a few odd sounds .. she talks a lot ! and then she trotted after the ball.
If I don't pay attention to her, she kicks the ball, throws the ball, punts it into the bedroom or living room and makes odd not quite howling sounds.
She is an odd little thing.
I am so crazy about her.

She bites.
I was holding her in my arms. She bit my arm and made a neat little hole in me.
I said Ow !! Don't Do That !!
She reached up to my face with her little paw and patted me.
Then she washed my arm.

I don't know about you but in my book, she said I'm sorry Mama.


She has finally graduated from sleeping in her crate ( a small dog kennel) at night to sleeping on my bathrobe at the foot of the bed.
The bed is plenty big enough .. we don't bother each other. I am hoping she will start sleeping past 6 am though. My days are long enough.
The bedroom in Buenos Aires  .... I loved that room. I slept like a baby ..

I have had a rough week. A beloved member of my family -in- law, died suddenly.
One of those sorts of people that you stop and think ... did I ever see him Not smiling ?
did he ever say a harsh word to anyone ? did he know how much he was loved ?
I think he knew ..

A little too much sadness and loss these days .

I am thinking about taking Minette and going somewhere .. I have no further ideas than that.
If I could go back in Time .. I would be packing right now.

But instead, I have to go throw the ball for Minette some more.
She is tiny but she can really be a big nag ... maaama ... maaaaa maaaaa.. throw the baaall.
nag nag nag...

I Miss It

This is Avenida Libertador.
This was 2 blocks from my front door.
What you don't see in the photo is the miles of parks on either side. And the huge pink Musuem on the right, the Belle Artes.
The lake built just for little children and their fathers to sail boats on.
The babies playground which is fenced in and has very small , new and improved swings and equipment and plenty of benches for nannies and moms and dads.
There was no dog park, there should have been but maybe that will come along eventually. The dogs could use their own park .. instead, lazy dog walkers would take a dozen or so dogs to the park, tie them to a tree or fence then go drink mate with a friend , smoke something and take a nap. While the dogs sat/lay around the tree, waiting to be walked.
Sometimes they barked .. non-stop. There were days that the contest was who was loudest and most annoying, the dogs tied to a tree or the taxis honking at everyone on the road.
But most days, it was peaceful ... or as I learned, the peaceful you expect in Buenos Aires.
I miss it.

Those tall buildings are apartments, then you are in Palermo Botanico. Where the Japanese Gardens are .. the Botanical Gardens .. a lovely place to live and spend time. I miss it.

If I went back, and could find nothing in Recoleta, my old neighborhood, I would not mind, at all, living in Palermo Botanico. To stroll to a cafe, have a coffee, wander through the Botanical Gardens .. or have tea in the afternoon in the Japanese Gardens, perhaps bringing home a plant from their little garden shop. I did that when we lived there ... the plant now resides in the garden of our apartment building. I wonder if it misses me.

There were Museums all along the Avenue .. my favorite was the Belles Artes but there was the Glace .. which used to be an ice skating rink ... a large white , round building, that has new exhibits all the time and is very interesting . You walk around the ground floor, up the stairs to the top where you walk around and in the middle you can look down, to the ground floor .. I miss it.

At the end of our street, 2 blocks from our door, is the Recoleta Cultural Center and the parks.
We were there pretty much every day, whether it was to walk Pup or to go to the museum or Cultural Center or to shop or to eat ... there is the  Hard Rock Cafe and shops and places to just look out over the parks and take photos and soak in the atmosphere ..
It was a short cut to the other side of the park and a good spot for people watching, lunching, sitting on a bench and talking ...
We were married for about 100 years and we still had so much to say to each other .. we were always interested in what the other had to say .. he always made me laugh, I always tried to make him laugh .. we went well together.

And we went well with Buenos Aires. I miss it.

Calling All Angels

Trixie and Texas

They were found by a landfill. They were taken to a Kill Shelter. Their time is almost up.
Isn't there someone out there who would like to be an angel ?

call : 803 596 8046

Save them please .
Even if someone adopted them and got them out of the Kill shelter, then found a home for them would be good. Angels, calling all Angels.

Sundays in Palermo Soho

On a Summer Sunday, we would grab a Taxi outside the door and scoot over to Palermo Soho where we would have brunch, shop, look in every single window ( or as many as I could before I was dragged away) , go to galleries, parks, stop for drinks and people watch and shop some more.

I enjoyed the place as much as the things we did ... the architecture is what I dream of still.. the French influence, the age of everything, there were cobblestone streets that were terrible for walking on and noisy for cars to drive over but they were SO charming !

Balconies were laden with plants and flowers bloomed everywhere .. as did graffiti.

I always liked the idea of the police catching the vandals and making them spend weeks cleaning the buildings ..

There were shops that only sold handbags. My version of Heaven.
There were all styles, colors, shapes and sizes. The leather was always soft as .. well .. soft.
The colors were lovely, the styles always current.
The styles whether in clothing, shoes or handbags, in Buenos Aires, were according to Europe, not the US.
So I often bought an outfit in Buenos Aires, that was just coming out in Paris, that was not even heard of yet in New York.
I liked that. I am shallow..

When we visited Buenos Aires, I bought bags for myself and for  my daughter and that trend continued once we moved there.
I have bags in my closet that whisper to me, señora, me llevan hoy !! Carry me today !! And I   give in .. The sheep at the farm on the hill admire them, the boy at the supermarket commented on one, it is a bit big, isn't it ? The lady at the pharmacy loved one .. the color ! where did you get it ?
I used to get a kick out of saying Buenos Aires ...  recently more than one person has asked me "Where ?  where is that ? "...  sigh ~

The kitten especially likes the big soft black bag that looks like something Mary Poppins would carry .. she climbs inside and naps.
I worry one day I will stick my hand in my bag to get my wallet out and a kitten will pop out instead.
that will give the checkout lady a chuckle for the day ..

well, gotta go ... the bags are all neat and in their spots, now for the shoes. Seasons change, sandals have to go to bed and the boots have to come out ... sigh ... it is Spring in Buenos Aires .. all the new shoes and handbags are in the stores ..

Mishka, Buenos Aires ..

EraBuenosAires 

Catching Bubbles